Stevedores at Spanish
ports have announced three weeks of strikes to commence on 6th March in protest at changes to government
legislation. The EU Court of Justice has obliged Spain to liberalise the
monopoly held by stevedores or face heavy fines. The legislation has been
approved by the Council of Ministers and only awaits approval by the Spanish
Congress. Two hundred billion euros worth of goods pass through the ports and
they account for 86% of exports and 60% of imports. There are well over 6,000 stevedores.
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| Stevedores at Puerto Real (foto:diariodecadiz) |
The strikes, which will be
distributed round the various ports in the country, will have a very serious
impact on transport companies, exporters of perishable goods and, of course
Sherry. Consejo director César Saldaña says that any orders which cannot be
fulfilled will be lost. Logistics are such that Sherry customers don’t hold
stocks so if deliveries are not received there will be gaps on the shelves.
While road transport would be an alternative, sea transport has always been the
tried and tested way, so a strike would hit Sherry exports hard as some 68% of
Sherry is exported. Stock up now!
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